Return to Normalcy
by elisteran
Summary: Akane tires of the chaotic time she's spent with Ranma, and attempts to pursue a more normal relationship. But fate is not so easily thwarted...


The Return to Normalcy by Elisteran Disclaimer: The characters and back-story of Ranma 1/2 are the creation of Rumiko Takahashi.  
  
"It's been fun, Ranma. Real fun." The girl's tone didn't sound too pleased,though. "Now go away and leave me alone!" A box of clothes was thrown out the door at the man standing by the stairs.  
  
"Akane! No! Don't do this to me! Don't do this to us!" was the plaintive whine in response. "Come on, we can work things out! Akane!"  
The door slammed shut. The man tensed his fists -- he could break it down, he could duck outside and jump in through the window, he could... argh! he savagely hit the air with his fists. This wasn't the Akane he knew.  
  
Aha! "Akane! I know it's not really you saying that! That Stork character messed with your head, that's all! I'll go pound a cure out of him! Just wait for me!"  
  
He ran off and was gone. Inside the apartment Akane only sighed. 'That idiot. He thinks this is a problem he can just beat up.' She continued to pack her belongings. Several years of living with Ranma let her know just how he'd react, so she wasn't worried about him surprising her. 'First he'll fight, then he'll go off and train, then fight some more. Probably land himself in some new love triangle, or chasing some new cure.'  
  
Akane sighed again, tears coming to her eyes. 'Why won't he ever grow up!? I have... and I don't think I can keep waiting for him.' At this,  
she sat down, and let the tears flow. She knew it was best this way,  
knew she should be gone by the time Ranma returned. 'A clean separation is the only way.' She should be gone, and not leave a forwarding address. Maybe then Ranma and she could give up on each other and go their separate ways.  
  
---------  
  
Ichiro Tokugawa was feeling rather proud of himself. He had just earned his black belt, been praised by his boss at work,  
and he was pretty sure that raven-haired beauty over at the bar was looking at him. He raised his beer to her, and went back to his daydreams.  
  
Still he was surprised when an hour later or so the empty seat at his table became filled with curves -- he slowly dragged his eyes upward,  
appreciating every bump he saw, until his bleary vision was filled with big brown eyes. "You look pretty happy; big day today?"  
  
"The biggest," he hopefully didn't slur. "I'm a -- a black belt now."  
She didn't look too pleased, so he bragged a bit more. "I shma,  
smashed 2 bricks at my test. Broke him my firsht blow. Bam!" Ichiro was vaguely aware he wasn't making sense, but he wasn't worried. He could tell the girl was impressed.  
  
"2 bricks!" she exclaimed. "You're a martial artist!?"  
  
"I shure am." He nodded sagely. "But I wouldna hurt no pretty lady."  
Hey, she was blushing almost as red as his own alcohol-ruddened skin. It just made her prettier. "Here, have a drink." He straightened up and resolved to annunc, no, e-nun-ciate his words better. "Waitress!"  
  
She smiled at him. "So what are you going to do tomorrow, warrior? Go off and train to defeat your enemies? Rescue magical princesses in durance vile?"  
  
"I wash gonna just go to work, but I could save you a few times tonight..." Man, he was a better flirt than he had thought. She looked interested. He downed a shot for luck.  
  
She sipped at the foam on top of her mug. "That... sounds like it might be fun." She took a much bigger gulp. She continued to drink steadily through the night, draining her last glass only when Ichiro got up to leave. She drunkenly wove her arm through his, and staggered home with him.  
  
Six months later, Ichiro still liked to think back on that first meeting when he got up in the morning. He'd wake up and stare at the curves of her perfect form, content to nestle in the warmth of the bed they shared. He'd stop when he came home from the office, his worries drained away when he heard her cursing in the kitchen. "Akane, dear,  
don't worry about it, we'll order out. We'll have some sushi and watch the sunset in the park."  
  
And she'd reply, "No, I'll do this. I will master it." The last growled, as if a vow to an ancient and terrible enemy. And he'd back off, intimidated. It was a ritual, one of many that they had already developed. Life was perfect.  
  
After one dinner, Ichiro kissed Akane. "Your cooking really is good,  
my dear. I'd swear it was a restaurant meal if I hadn't seen you working away at it." His girlfriend blushed fiercely.  
  
"So what do you want to do tonight, honey?" Akane looked like she was fighting the temptation to sleep ; she had worked an early shift cleaning at the hospital. Ichiro charitably gave no hint in his expression of the plans he had made; they weren't that important,  
after all. "No," he said easily instead, "I was just going to work out a bit tonight."  
  
"Oh, good, then I'll be going to bed. Good night, sweetums," Akane yawned and stretched. Ichiro's eyes involuntarily flickered over her form. He sighed inside. The clubs really would have been good tonight,  
an excuse to run his hands over her on the dance floor, to watch other men envy his good fortune....  
  
He kissed Akane good night and resolved himself to a stiff working out. A few minutes of stretching to work the kinks out, and he went into the room where they kept the weight bench. His good humor helped insulate him from the prick of annoyance he felt when he saw Akane had been in there.  
  
She worked out occasionally, he knew, doing some martial arts practice most days when she arrived home, before he did, but she did not seem to respect the weights. She just piled all of the weights he had on the bar, to get them out of the way, he supposed. He had tried to talk her into just leaving the unused ones leaning against the wall, but she seemed to ignore him. She'd promise she wouldn't put any weights on there unless she was prepared to use them herself, and every time he came home to discover it was overloaded.  
  
Sighing slightly, he spent a few minutes removing the weights, and then started his first set. He was trying to increase his limits in hopes it'd help his speed and power when he performed his kata. Plus,  
it might help in bag work and brick breaking... the tests for promotion were in theory balanced, but some parts were considered more impressive than others. And a strong man is the most impressive of all.  
  
By the time an hour had passed, he was completely spent. He didn't bother packing a lunch for the next day; he'd pick something up from a street vendor. It'd be a nice ordinary day.  
  
The next day, when he came home, it was clear the day had been anything but. Akane curiously asked, "What's gotten into you? You seem excited." He had barely kissed her hello before going into the room and changing into his gi.  
  
"I saw the most incredible thing today. I was buying my lunch at the yattai by the river, when I saw this girl chasing an old man. They were, they were..." Words failed him, as he waved his hands around helplessly.  
  
Akane half-chuckled. "They weren't fighting, were they? You probably mean a little girl running after her grandpa."  
  
Ichiro nodded, his eyes. alight. "Oh, they were fighting, all right. The girl -- she jumped further than I ever thought was possible. Her kicks couldn't have been all that strong, as fast as she was going, but it was just amazing!" And the last, where Akane could barely hear him, "her hair... so red, so enchanting..."  
  
Akane froze mid-sip, her coffee mug half raised to her lips. She turned and looked at Ichiro, noticing the almost-forgotten but still familiar gleam of admiration in his eyes -- an admiration which would all too soon lead to obsession. Her face a frozen mask, Akane swiveled and went silently into the kitchen, wiping her hands free of the powder that was all that remained of her mug.  
  
Ichiro barely saw her go. He turned and went into the exercise room,  
hoping to improve himself, so that next time he saw the red-haired girl, he might impress her. It wasn't a sexual interest, it was... a challenge. As he bent himself to the task, he never heard Akane slip out the door, gone again in search of normalcy.  
  
Author's notes: here's another short one. I just haven't been able to make much progress on my longer fics, recently, but I have had a bunch of ideas bounce in my head. I thought this one would be longer, too,  
but... it's not. Comments , positive and negative, very welcome,  
either to the FFML or privately. 


End file.
